Wednesday, December 7, 1864

W. T. SHERMAN, Major-General, Commanding, HDQRS. Military Division Of The Mississippi, In the Field, Two Miles and a Half from No. 3

Major-General Slocum, Commanding Left Wing:

GENERAL: Owing to the rain, General Blair did not reach Guyton to-day, but is at this point, about two miles and a half northwest of Guy ton. Early in the morning, his column will move right forward on the road which passes about two miles west of Guyton and about the same distance east of Eden, where your road and ours come together. It will be well if you can find a road passing from Springfield to Monteith and Pooler, and General Davis should be instructed to reach Saint Augustine and the vicinity of Cherokee Hill. He must first secure the road indicated from Cherokee Hill to Silk Hope and Litchfield. Press upon him that he must arrive when expected. We hear that the enemy is fortifying in a semi-circle around and about four miles from Savannah.

I am, general, respectfully, yours,



H. C. ROGERS, Assistant Adjutant- General, Headquarters Left Wing, Army Of Georgia, Four Miles from Springfield, December 7 1861—11 a. m.

Maj. Gen. J. C. Davis, Commanding Fourteenth Corps:

The major-general commanding is of the opinion that the enemy will not give up the Charleston and Savannah road without a fight, and thinks you may be attacked at any time before you reach that road. He desires me to suggest that you strengthen your advance guard, keep your column well closed up, and let Kilpatrick take care of your rear. He expects your corps to be at St. Augustine as agreed. He also sends word that you should keep your bridge down until everyone is across. Please indicate where you will probably encamp to-night, and, if possible, communicate with us to-morrow. We shall not move beyond Springfield until further orders and until we know where your column has caught up.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,



JEF. C. DAVIS, Brevet Major-General, Commanding, Headquarters Fourteenth Army Corps, Five Miles North of Sister’s Ferry,—3.10 p. m.

Col. H. C. Rodgers, Chief of Staff, Left Wing:

COLONEL: Your dispatch by Corporal Cureton and party is just received. My advance division took dinner at Sister’s Ferry; my rear will reach there to-night. My headquarters will be about five miles from that place. The enemy shows himself at all the ferries on the opposite bank of the river. A little skirmishing has been reported in my rear this morning. We find fallen timber across all the creeks and swamps. I sent a messenger to you at daylight this morning. Our roads are bad, but I will make nearly twenty miles to-day by dint of hard work and rapid marching. I had already made arrangememits to place more troops in my front. I have and will keep my bridge down as long as necessary for the safe crossing of the army.

Yours, respectfully,


CAPTAIN GEORGE W. PEPPER, In camp

The roads are bad, execrable; swamps, creeks, and pathless marshes have to be bridged and crossed. We cross the streams one after another on pontoons until we are now within 30 miles from Savannah. We anxiously wait the issue of the day, which may materially affect the immediate capture of the city. We will not be defeated. The absolute necessity of a complete victory over the rebels, has been so intensely infused into our army, that they must conquer. How anxiously we wait the blast that orders our brave veterans forward.

I have had an interesting conversation with Lieutenant William L. Reteley, an escaped prisoner from Columbia, South Carolina. The Lieutenant is a dashing officer of the Fifty-first Ohio, and was captured at the battle of Chickamauga. For fifteen months he has endured unparalleled hardships and privations, reducing him to a mere skeleton. He had been in Richmond, Danville, Macon, Savannah, Millen, Andersonville, Charleston and Columbia. He confirms the usual tales of the inhumanity and brutal treatment of the rebel officers to our brave men, incarcerated in Southern dungeons. He left his prison, traveled by night, and lay concealed during the day in the swamps and woods. He found the much abused and despised negro to be a Samaritan, a friend indeed. The slaves gave him directions where to hide, what ferry to cross, when to travel, and replenished his scanty haversack with sweet potatoes, cereals, molasses and chickens. He came within nine miles of Augusta, supposing the army to be there; here again the trusty negro came to his aid, and piloted him through to our lines. The Lieutenant, though formerly prejudiced against the African, is now enthusiastic in his praises of the down-trodden, but soon to be emancipated slave.

I only echo the feelings of thousands escaped Federals, when I say: God Almighty bless the African race. Larger caravans of negroes than before are now following in our path, frequently being cut off by the enemy's cavalry, but by circuitous routes and much hard marching, making their appearance again. Some of these are mere babes in arms. Jennie has found her sister Caroline and frequently chooses to spend her time with her rather than on her own studies. I have warned her that she has lost her focus, and today, I ordered her to return her sister to the columns of negroes behind us as she is not employed or sponsored by an officer and therefore is prohibited by General Davis’s orders from riding in the wagons, sleeping in a tent in our camp, and so forth. I told Jennie I thought the General (meaning General Sherman) might come into camp unexpectedly. I could not promise to her what his reaction would be to this lack of respect for camp rules. The truth is, General Sherman is with the advance of the 15th Corps and miles away from here. But Jennie must learn the discipline one needs to truly benefit from any instuction. And she must follow the army way. You obey orders.


JENNIE LEWIS, On the Road to Freedom

Dear Papa, I must write this qwickly because Captain Pepper is sending us all to the rear. He says we are going against General Davis orders by having Caroline and little Jake here in the tent with me. We tried to tell him that big Jake is one of the generals road men and his family should ride with the headquarters but he says that is not so. ‘She is in your tent, Jennie. She is not with her husband. She will either have to join him at the front or move to the rear.’ Well if Caroline is going behind the wagons so will I.

Captain Pepper seems very put out with me. I did not go with Brother Fortune and the others to see General Sherman because Captain Pepper warned me not to leave camp. Yet he would send us to the rear of the lines to sleep on the cold wet ground. I don’t mind for myself. But it ranes much of the time. What will Caroline do to keep little Jake warm and dry. That will be hard Papa! He is always on the move. He runs laughing around camp and into and out of the solders tents. No one minds him. They love him. They call ‘Come here Jake. You fat little rascal you.’ And then they give him some trinket or sing and clap. Jake has more friends than anyone and he is not yet 2!

Caroline told me she has one regret about little Jake. ‘I would have waited till we were free so that my baby would never have to say he was born a slave. I wish I could have made up my own mind. But my master took that away.’

‘Jake, too.’ I said. ‘He didn’t have to do what he did.’

‘Oh he’s all right Jennie. He’s a good man after all. He didn’t have no choice neither. But you do. Now, you can be the one to have a baby born free.’

I had never thought of having babies. Now, I would have ten more just like little Jake if I could!

Must close, Papa. The solders are at the tent with a wagon to move us to the rear.

In haste,